i I
Features
Erotica alive and well in Asheville
■ see page 3
. Jackson nets 1,000th career point
■ see page 4
Campus
pi
Drinking and driving at UNCA
■ see page 6
stu-
Volume 39 Issue 5
NEWS
BRIEFS
by Adam McMullin
Staff Reporter
Wif>k
mt
m
ii
CE 1.
WWW. unca. edu/banner
White-only scholarship sparks debate
BY Lauren Abe
Staff Reporter
CAMPUS CRIME
Unknown suspect(s) stole a
UNCA computer from room 016
in Karpen Hall Feb 23. The per
petrator cut the computer’s secu
rity cable and walked off with a
monitor and CPU. An investiga
tion is underway, according to Jerry
Adams, investigator for the Cam
pus Police.
Classrooms with computers are
suppose to be locked at night, ac-
cotding to Adams. The crime prob
ably occurred over the weekend.
The door was found unlocked on
the morning of Feb. 23.
Campus Police received a report
of a stolen bicycle Feb 25. The
bike’s lock appeared to be picked,
according to Adams. It was chained
up at the bike rack at Ramsey Li
brary and Robinson Hall.
Campus Police issued a student
conduct citation for underage pos
session of alcohol in Mills Hall Feb
27. The student, also charged with
providing alcohol to people under
age, is being referred to student
conduct.
UNCA
A group of UNCA students re
cently visited New York City and
Washington, D.C. with UNCAs
North Carolina Teaching Fellows
Program.
The group took the trip to learn
about education in a multi-cultural
setting, and to see innovative ap
proaches to teaching.
The Teaching Fellows visited
Seward Park High in the Lower
East Side of Manhattan, where stu
dents have full access to a complete
curriculum taught bilingually for
Chinese, Spanish and Bengali stu
dents. They also visited Bard High
School Early College, a collabora
tion of the New York City Depart
ment of Education and Bard Col
lege.
CHAPEL HILL
Conservative students at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill say they’re successfully
fighting the university’s liberal tra
dition. Student activists say they’re
exposing professors, students and
a campus atmosphere that they say
is intolerant of conservative
thought.
They have also spent thousands
to import conservative speakers,
i “ such as author Ann Coulter and
'-•'A actor Ben Stein. Author and
former marine Oliver North is
scheduled to visit the university in
the fall.
UNITED STATES
Massachusetts Senator John
Kerry clinched the Democratic
presidential nomination after win
ning nine out of 10 primaries
March 2.
Kerry won primaries in Califor
nia, Connecticut, Georgia, Mary
land, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
New York, Ohio and Rhode Is
land.
Howard Dean won his home
state of Vermont even though he is
no longer in the race.
North Carolina Senator John
Edwards failed to win any of the
primaries on Super Tuesday and
subsequently quit the race.
A Republican student organization at
Roger 'Williams University (RWU) in
Rhode Island created a scholarship for only
white students in an effort to protest affir
mative action early February.
“It’s a ridiculous idea. It doesn’t address
the issue of class, race or ethnic inequali
ties,” said Jim Pitts, professor of sociology.
“It’s about reinforcing, but in a way that’s a
caricature of the old days.”
Jason Mattera, the president of the Col
lege Republicans at RWU, created a $250
scholarship specifically designated for white
students.
Scholarships
should be based on
character and aca
demic achievement
rather than skin
color, Mattera told
CNN.
With the cre
ation of this schol
arship, Mattera
challengesthe pre
conceived issue or that white people are au
tomatically privileged or rich, according to
CNN.
“On a national basis, we need to pay
attention to investing in the education of
people long before college, people who drop
-Iti
TOMMY GREENWOOD/
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sean McDonald
out too soon or who are encouraged to drop
out and develop more talent,” .said Pitts.
“We need to give scholarships to a variety
of income levels that have the talent to do
well in college, whether they are white,
black or Puerto Rican.”
Mattera receives a $5,000 scholarship for
minority students, distributed by the His
panic College Fund. He told the Providence
Journal that ethnicity does not matter and
that scholarships should be given for aca
demic achievements. The Republican group
also opposes race-ba.sed scholarships and af
firmative action, according to CNN.
But some argue that scholarships based
See SCHOLARSHIP on page 12
W.N.C. Community
Health Services
Dr. Polly E. Ross, is
the medical director
ofWNC Health
Services, located in
Asheville on Grenada
Street. The'WNC
Health Services offers
confidential HIV
antibody testing.
The health center is
opened Mondays,
Wednesdays and
Fridays. Volunteers
participating in the
HIV study are at
minimal risk of
obtaining the disease,
according to Ross.
JAMES RICHARDS/staff reporter
Scientists propose possible HIV vaccine
BY James Richards
Staff Reporter
German scientists launched
the country’s first test of an
HIV vaccine on humans Feb.
16.
Fifty healthy volunteers will
undergo vaccine injections
during the yearlong clinical
trial, in Germany and Bel
gium, according to Deutsche
Welle, a German news organi
zation.
The vaccine, known as
tgAAC09, targets HIV subtype
C, prevalent in Sub-Saharan
African countries as well as In
dia and China, according to
the Associated Press.
Backed by Targeted Genet
ics Corporation and the non
profit Institutional AIDS Vac
cine Initiative (lAVI), the trial
will test the vaccine’s safety and
effectiveness, according to
I AVI’s Web site.
“I think ideally the research
sounds great, said Ian
Nelligan, senior biochemistry
major. “However, I have some
doubts. I worry that they will
not do enough testing and re
search before administering
(the vaccine) widely.”
AIDS continues to be a
growing pandemic in develop
ing na-
t i o n s .
Males born
in some
S u b - S a -
haran Afri
can coun
tries have a
75 percent
chance of
being in
fected with
HIV in
their life
time, ac
cording to
James Petranka, biology profes
sor.
It is very difficult to develop
a vaccine for AIDS, according
to Petranka.
“The problem with devel
oping vaccines is a story in evo
lution because we’ve got a vi
rus that can mutate rapidly,”
said Petranka. “Molecular stud
ies trace the original LIIV virus
back to 1930. Since it’s entered
humans the virus has evolved
into many different strains in
the order of 15 to 20 minimum.
“This is
just a race
between the
evolution of
this thing
and how
quickly we
can use our
technology
to track it
and deal
with it.”
C u r -
rently, 30
other vac
cines, be
sides tgAAc09, are being devel
oped or tested worldwide, ac
cording to Jennifer Weemer,
public relations officer for lAVI.
Vaccines consist of
weakened (non-lethal)
forms of viruses. Cells of the
immune system recognize these
as foreign invaders when the
“I think ideally the
research sounds great.
However, I have some
doubts. I worry that they
will not do enough testing
and research before
administering the vaccine
widely^’
Ian Nelligan
senior biology major
The latest in Iraq:
■ March, 1: Iraqi leaders agree on the
terms of an interim constitution, which
grants freedoms to the Iraqi people long
denied by the controlling Ba’ath party.
■ March 2: Simultaneous suicide
bombings markedthe deadliest attack
in Iraq since Saddam’s demise. The
attacks killed at least 143 people.
■ March 3: American officials claim
evidence link Tuesday’s attacks to a
Sunni militant, not Iraqi.
U.S. misses Iraq deadline
Amanda Edwards
Staff Reporter
The U.S. appointed Iraqi Governing
Council did not meet the Feb. 28 deadline
to approve an interim constitution due to
major differences about the role of Islam
in the law, rights of women, and the
independence of the Kurdish minority.
“We have all agreed to a democratic
Iraq,” said a Governing Council member.
Mahmud Othman, according to The
Associated Press. “We have agreed that the
people should choose everything. They ve
never said they wanted an Islamic law,
Islamic state. If it is delayed a bit nothing
much will affect it because this is a
deadline we put ourselves.”
The United States set the Feb. 28
deadline and U.S. administrator in Iraq
must approve the document.
See IRAQ on page 12
March 4, 2004
COURTESY OF JOHN STEVENS
Argentinean researchers, Roberto
and Graciela Mercado assisted in
MEDC research with students and
faculty at UNCA. The MEDC
provides information to the
international scientific community
field of Mossbauer spectroscopy.
Currently, there are over 81,000
data records in the MEDC database.
vaccine is injected, and devel-
ope a cellular memory for the
viral particle.
If a real infection occurs
later, the immune system can
use its memory to quickly at
tack the virus, according to
Petranka.
“We deal with this every
year with the flu vaccine, mak
ing new vaccines every year to
keep pace with the evolving
strain,” said Petranka.
German researchers say the
present vaccine, which has al
ready been successfully tested
on monkeys, has several advan
tages over other vaccines in the
development phase, according
to Deutsche Welle.
A single-shot of vaccine
tgAAC09 would not require
multiple injections over time,
as is the case with other vac
cines. This would be particu
larly useful for developing
countries, where most new
HIV infections occur, accord
ing to lAVI’s Web site.
See vaccine on page 12
International
scientists
visit UNCA
BY Terri Fisher
Staff Reporter
The Mossbauer Effect Data Center
(MEDC), John Stevens and UNCA re
ceived a visit in February from two
Argentinean physicists.
Roberto and Graciela Mercator visited
UNCA to have an intellectual exchange
with students and anyone involved with
the UNCA MEDC research center.
“We have made a major addition to
our home with the idea that we can ac
commodate international visitors,” said
Stevens, a chemistry professor. “Wc are
hoping to have someone come in next
fall from Budapest Hungary.”
Bringing international visitors to
UNCA helps in extending ideas and ex
panding learning, as well as gives students
a new voice on a small campus, accord
ing to Stevens.
“We decided about a year ago that we
would be more proactive in terms of hav
ing scientists come and stay here for an
extended period of time,” said Stevens.
“We want to make a more deliberate ef
fort of inviting international colleagues.
“(Roberto Mercator) is in the area of
Mossbauer spectroscopy, and he’s the
number one scientist in Argentina that
does this type of research.”
While visiting, the two educators sup
ported the learning of those students who
work with the MEDC.
“Both of them knew exactly what was
going on and they worked very well with
us in helping us understand the pro
cesses,” said Michael Martin, a freshmen
NCSU engineering major.
Others agree that working with the
Argentinean researchers was beneficial.
“Working with Roberto and Graciella
was a fantastic experience,” said David
Mabe, a biology chemistry student.
“They were both in the laboratory work
ing with me almost on a daily basis, ask
ing questions and offering new insights
and suggestions I certainly wouldn’t have
thought of”
The Mercators worked on about 20
different projects while they were here,
according to Stevens.
In the future Stevens said he hopes
that he will be able to have direct issues
to address when inviting visiting profes
sors.
“Here at UNCA we essentially have
all the material collected using the
Mossbauer technique,’’ said Stevens.